Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea go to the Etihad Stadium on Monday in search of a victory and not simply to stifle Manchester City. The West Londoners beat City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in October when a rush of blood from Joe Hart allowed Fernando Torres to score a last- gasp winner and have also beaten Manchester United and Liverpool at home. Away from home, Mourinhos men have adopted a conservative approach against their rivals, with goalless draws at Manchester United and Arsenal and a 1-1 draw at Tottenham. Given Citys prolific nature - they have scored 42 goals in winning all 11 home games this season - Mourinho believes a defensive approach will not be enough to halt Manuel Pellegrinis men. City score goals, Mourinho said. Normally, when your approach is very defensive, if you concede a goal you are in trouble. Or you have to make changes during the game and you never know how the players adapt to it. Mourinho believes Chelsea are taking a longer- term view this season and that will not be compromised despite facing a rampant City. Its not because of one game against certain opponents that we are going to change our philosophy, Mourinho added. We are going to try to win knowing perfectly we can lose or draw. Our intention is to try to win. City, who begin the contest three points clear of Chelsea, are Mourinhos title favourites, before he bids to mastermind a title assault next term. Our objective is to finish in a Champions League spot, Mourinho said. Thats the competitive objective, because the greater objective is the improvement of the team and preparing the team for the future. City beat West Ham 9-0 in the two-legged Capital One Cup semi-final while the Blues failed to score against the Hammers last Wednesday night, leaving Mourinho to criticise Sam Allardyces 19th-century tactics. Mourinho is adamant Chelsea will not replicate Allardyces style. There are walls and walls, Mourinho said. The self-proclaimed Special One aims to recruit a killer striker in the summer in the mould of Liverpools Luis Suarez or Sergio Aguero of City. City have an abundance of attacking options and Mourinho does not believe Agueros injury- enforced absence will have too great an impact. Hes a fantastic player, but hes one of so many, Mourinho said. Even the fourth striker (Stevan Jovetic), coming off the bench, comes on and scores (in Wednesdays 5-1 win at Tottenham). For the last months Sergio was injured and the third striker, (Edin) Dzeko, was making the difference and scoring a lot of goals. So for them its not important if somebody is injured.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 19:13:46 +0000
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